Bridging the skills gap: Employers, employees working together

Sunday

Aug 31, 2014 at 12:03 PM

By Andrea.Goodell@HollandSentinel.com(616) 546-4275

“I would hire three (more workers) right now if I could,” said Rich Starbuck, who employs 27 people at Starbuck Machining north of Holland.For a small, but highly technical business such as Starbuck’s custom order Computer Numeric Control outfit, it can be difficult to find workers with the necessary skills.The company has posted jobs on Michigan Works! and Craigslist — “I get more hits on that than anything,” he said. He’s placed radio and newspaper ads. He’s gone through placement offices at colleges and tech high schools.However, the CNC machines at Starbuck’s shop are extremely technical and extremely specific skills are needed to run them.“(Students) can come out of a tech center or a college and still not know what they need to know to be productive,” said Starbuck, president and co-owner of the company.Often, he finds, bigger corporations with more money snatch up top students.“It’s really sad when you have the work right now and you can’t find the skilled workforce to get it out,” said Starbuck, who works exclusively on contract, doing custom work for other companies.Last year, the state’s Skilled Trades Training Fund offered $10 million in grants to Michigan companies to help train workers in skilled trades. Of that $10 million, Ottawa County companies were awarded $1 million in grants that were worth anywhere from $1,000 up to hundreds of thousands.“The whole purpose of the skilled trades training fund is to enable companies to train employees so that they can continue to grow their careers,” said Christine Powers, director of business services with West Michigan economic development group Lakeshore Advantage.The new round of grants starts Oct. 1, and Lakeshore Advantage is hosting a workshop later this month to help business leaders capitalize on those grants.In turn, Powers and others hope that when companies expand, they will choose to do so locally where the talent base has been trained in the skills they need.“Companies always have a choice on where to expand their business and where to grow their business, so we work to ensure that when it’s time for companies to make those choices, we have the infrastructure here from a talent/skills perspective to make the best possible business case for that company,” Powers said.Students also need to realize, she said, the vast variety of programs available locally, even through the employers themselves. Many offer education reimbursement, co-op and apprentice programs.“The more students look at the variety of programs with companies locally, they will see it is affordable, it is doable regardless of your current financial need,” Powers said.Last year, Starbuck Manufacturing was one of those to receive a skilled trades training grant and ran four classes to train employees, including interpreters for one Spanish-speaking and one deaf employee.Ottawa County Michigan Works! Executive Director Bill Raymond encourages employers to “take a bit of a chance” on new hires who may have the training, but not the experience.“It’s a risk for everybody. Employer and job seeker,” he said. “Is it a wage gap, a skills gap, an expectation gap? I think it’s all of that.”— Follow this reporter on Facebook and on Twitter, @SentinelAndrea.